Village People

Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City Stoop Skirmish

Have you heard, there’s a rumble in the West Village? (That should be sung to the tune from Anastasia.) It seems that Sarah Jessica Parker, that tony neighborhood’s unofficial mascot, has angered some of her fellow community members by misusing a sacred space. Well, whether the site, a shrine of sorts, is sacred or cursed probably depends on whom you ask. To some thirtysomethings, feet worn and warped by years of vertiginous heel-wearing, faces still flecked by a decade’s worth of cupcake crumbs, the Perry Street stoop that was used as Sex and the City heroine Carrie Bradshaw’s Upper East Side stoop is a holy site to rival the Kaaba. But, to many a New Yorker who has watched their city ravaged by the brunch plague, plunged into the steel-and-glass hell of the condo craze, this stoop is where all that wickedness began, a dark nexus. It’s a highly contested area.

But no matter where you fall on the great SATC schism, I’m sure you can agree that the people who live in the Perry Street town house that the stairs belong to have probably been living a nightmare for the last 15 years. They have so many looky-loos and Carrie/Big ’shippers making pilgrimage to the staircase that they’ve had to put up a little metal chain and a sign that says “Do NOT go on staircase please.” Seems reasonable enough. I mean, after all, it is their staircase, to their home. Would you want a bunch of giggling strangers hanging out on your stoop all the time? Not even the Samantha of your friend group would want that. So, it seems like a reasonable concession to the privacy and comfort of the residents that you do not violate the little chain and the little sign. But Sarah Jessica Parker has done just that, which is why supposedly everyone’s mad at her.

See, she has this shoe line that she’s gotta promote, which involves doing photo shoots. Because people aren’t gonna buy the shoes if they don’t know what they look like. So to kind of synthesize her SATC fame with her shoe business, more so than she has already, SJP and company went to the Perry Street stoop and took photos of the shoes on the stairs. Which, of course, is a violation of the not-going-on-the-staircase sign. Not a full violation, because, of course, the sign does not say “Please do not put shoes on this staircase.” I suppose you could interpret the sign as implicitly asking that shoes not be placed on the staircase—but probably only in so much as those shoes are connected to a human body. Empty shoes are something of a gray area. But, alas, there is also a photo of SJP sitting on the stoop with the shoes, which is a violation of both chain and sign, and a clear misstep for Ms. Parker. (If that is indeed the same stoop—it’s not entirely clear that it is.)

Instagram

All of this was done unauthorized, guerrilla-style, the photos appearing on Parker’s personal Instagram page and the shoe collection’s. The owners of the building have not said anything publicly that we’re aware of, but the president of the Perry Street Association has voiced his displeasure to Page Six. Rightly so, as this is the perfect kind of Page Six story, combining Manhattan, wealth, celebrity, class tension, and fashion. It’s great! Though, yes, I’m sure this situation isn’t great for the residents of the home.

Though, is it that big of a deal? They do still get to live on Perry Street in the West Village of Manhattan, one of the most desirable neighborhoods in the whole country, if not the world. Sure, they have to maneuver past crowds of people who want to absorb some of Carrie’s, and the city’s, magic by standing in a treasured place. But maybe that is the price of living somewhere magical? And either they allowed the show to film there in the first place or bought the house after it had become famous, so either way they were somewhat complicit in this whole thing, right? Obviously Ms. Parker should have respected the wishes of the sign, and all that the sign implies, but maybe she feels some ownership over those stairs too, and isn’t she at least a little bit entitled to that? We don’t hold the deed to the Brooklyn Bridge, and yet it’s ours. Our favorite table at our favorite corner bar is not something we own, and yet . . . isn’t it, in a way? The real meat of Sarah Jessica Parker’s life began on that stoop, and if I were her, I’d have a hard time staying away from it, being told that I cannot experience it anymore. Of course, she could have asked for permission. That might have straightened this whole thing out before there was even an issue. But, sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission, isn’t it?

Anyway, that’s a thing that’s happening here in the city. Millions of other things are happening, too.